Rich Bracke is a homegrown example of just how flat the business world has become.

From an office in Encinitas the size of a garage, Bracke runs BIGR Audio, a maker of environmentally friendly headphones that retail for $99 to $150. He doesn’t have employees, per se, but does have a couple of partners. The headphones — complete with laser-engraved ear cups — are made in China. So is the bamboo packaging. A shipping company in San Diego handles logistics. Another handles marketing, a third accounting. Everything is outsourced.

Yet, Bracke is selling his headphones at Best Buy and Pottery Barn stores. His product is on Amazon.com and other eCommerce retailers worldwide. He has licenses with Major League Baseball to make headphones with the logos of all 32 MLB teams. He also has logo licenses with about two dozen NCAA schools, representatives of the late martial arts legend Bruce Lee, Rolling Stone magazine and others.

Bracke sat down with U-T San Diego recently to discuss how BIGR Audio can survive in a hotly competitive business such as audio headphones. Here are some excerpts.

Q: This isn’t the first consumer electronics company you’ve been involved with. Correct?

A: In 1998-99, I met two guys who showed me a flat panel speaker technology called NXT. What we did is develop what was considered one of the first portable speakers on the market, which was a flat panel portable speaker about the same size of a CD gem case.

Sonic Impact was that company. We picked up licensing with Apple for iPod products in about 2004 and developed the zippered carrying case portable speaker dock. That was considered one of the very first portable speaker units in Apple stores.

Unfortunately in 2008, with the demise of the U.S. economy, we had a factory basically shut down on us, and it knocked us out of business. We couldn’t deliver product for Christmas holiday. It killed the company.

Q: How big was Sonic Impact?

A: We were roughly 30,000 doors worldwide. We were in Target. We were in Best Buy, Circuit City, and Radio Shack. We were in Apple stores, Sam’s Club. Over 8 to 10 years, we developed and sold out of maybe a couple hundred different items. We were basically a six-person company with worldwide distribution. We developed a core theory on manufacturing, product development, distribution and representation. We outsourced almost everything except product development.

Q: What led you to start BIGR Audio?

A: I saw a niche that was missing in the market. There were products that looked good, or they functioned well. But there wasn’t a combination of everything.

I also wanted to incorporate an environmental feel — something that is different. Instead of plastic packaging, I use all bamboo — natural elements. I got tired of plastic. There’s so much plastic. The wood creates a better resonation for sound qualities, and it just looks nicer.

We have always used high-quality drivers and speakers, and I have just continued. I have all the same connections and relationships (with suppliers) that we used previously with Sonic Impact.

Q: How do you distribute?

A: After our first year, Best Buy picked up our Major League Baseball line. We also picked up a unique retailer, Pottery Barn. They have been great. Everybody says baseball is for boys — boys and men. But it’s moms who shop there. And they buy it as a gift for the males in their families.In

terms of visibility, we’re more guerrilla marketing and going out and getting the fan. So if we go out to San Diego, for example, we’re going to try to get on the Padres radio station. We’re going to go to blogs on the Padres and do everything we can to get people to come to our website and look at our headphones. When they do, they’re also going to see not only the Padres but Bruce Lee and all the other things.

Q: How did you hook up with Major League Baseball?

A: They approached a friend of mine at Apple. He said there are a lot of companies out there doing headphones, but you need something unique, and I know the guy you should talk to because he designs differently than everybody else. So we basically had a conversation with MLB’s corporate offices and got somewhat fast-tracked through the whole process and developed a product.

I’m a startup, but I have a lot of history. That makes it a little easier. The hard work for me

is not on the product end of it. It’s on the paperwork end. There is a lot of detail that goes into it.

Q: How much did you raise to start BIGR?

A: Initially we came up with about $250,000 to get it going. The first year of sales I would say we were $500,000 to $600,000, plus or minus. Last year we were probably $750,000 to $900,000. And this year we’re probably going to grow to $1.2 million and $1.5 million, maybe more because we still have the fourth quarter coming up, which is a big quarter.

It’s fun. I like developing businesses. I’ve done everything you can think of, from construction to security to catering chef to starting a worldwide electronics brand.